Portland Tries a New Way

For John, BLUF:  Last Summer showed us that lack of policing just encouraged "mostly peaceful" demonstrations.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Portland Can Relax.  The 'Enhanced Community Safety Team' Is On The Job

From PJ Media, by Reporter Rick Moran, 7 March 2021, 10:23 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus two:

Portland Oregon politicians decided to drastically cut the budget for the police department at the end of last year, hoping to make their city streets safer — at least for Antifa and Black Lives Matter.

For the rest of the citizens?  Not so much.  Shootings have skyrocketed — nearly 2 1/2 times higher than the year before.  Authorities blame the pandemic.  And unemployment.  And “systemic racism.”  And everything but the 7 percent reduction in the police budget.

The cuts with the biggest impact on gun violence included the disbanding of the highly effective Gun Violence Reduction Team.  The unit was charged with getting guns and violent criminals off the streets.

The numbers tell the story.  However, there are assumptions that need to be examined.  For example, does everyone unemployed and in trouble with the law has the same work ethic and attitude as those who are employed.  I believe that is an untested assumption.  Do they vote and look for work or are they a part of the some 30% who are not in the labor force, who are not counted in the Labor Participation Rate?  We need to examine our assumptions, which is whar Democracy is about.

I worry that we will implement too many "defund the police" efforts and end up with a backlash that hurts solid efforts to improve policing around the nation.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff